Videogames and the Gaming Gamers who Play Them
 

I'm curious... how many people here play videogames at least occasionally? (Console or PC?)

On the one hand, this is a pretty savvy group of individuals, whom I wouldn't expect to subscribe to the "playing videogames turns people into stark raving psychopaths" school of thought... but on the other hand, the age range here is a little broader and more evenly spread than most internet forums I think, so perhaps there could be an overriding disinterest for many members, I'm not sure.

I'm an "older" PC gamer: strategy, fps, sports, simulations.

RPGs (Morrowind)

Sims

Real-time Strategy (Warcraft)

The bummmer is that now I am totally mac, so I don't have the same range of products available. I may have to just get a gaming PC for kicks

-sm

A round of Tactical Ops for UT every couple of days (like CS for UT but better and cheat-free on good servers).

Used to play lots of games like Civ but I can't feel I can justify the time expense anymore. I should mention though I still play Fallout on occasion and own both for Mac and PC. Interplay will rot in hell for cancelling F3.

PC and Console gamer ... from way back.

Have a PSOne on the upstairs TV, downstairs on the "good" tv I have a switchbox to make it easier to decide to play with my Nintendo 64 and PS2. My SNES is on loan to my sister, who is probably not using it very much, and if I hadn't recently gotten a GameBoy Advance and Super Mario Advance 2 (the SNES Mario game I loved most) and the new Mario and Luigi Superstar Saga, I would be more aggressive about getting the SNES back. THere's a GameBoy Color and a GameBoy Pocket around here somewhere too, but since the games will play on the advance, I've been sticking to that mostly.

I like all kinds of games, but much prefer first person shooter types. I'm also enjoying my way through the Silent Hill series, GTA3 & VC, State of Emergency, and Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb. I also have Gladius, but haven't put enough time into that, and love a spooky evening of Fatal Frame. Duke Nukem is still da man, and after a hard day at work I sometimes enjoy Cabela's Big Game Trophy Hunter on the PSOne. There's something just entirely right about being able to play videogames in bed.

I'll occasionally play a puzzle game like Bust-A-Move to clear that palate.

My real problem is that there are just not enough hours in the day to game, dammit!!

Could we have some added, please?

EDIT: Ooh forgot about the PC ... have Return to Castle Wolfenstein and Global Operations currently loaded. Think I saw the disks for Doom II in a recent rummage in a closet, might play that again. Oh yeah, Marine Sharpshooter is another one I've been playing around with too. Die Hard: Nakatomi Plaza doesn't seem to like XP (or perhaps my video card) very much, so I uninstalled it. I got a copy of Vietnam MED-EVAC on sale for way cheap, still in the shrinkwrap.

Currently replaying System Shock 2. I just played Tron 2.0, and it made me want to go back to the inspiration. Damn, System Shock 2 is a kickass game.

I'm an occasional player. Used to have a gamecube and they had pretty good games compared to XBOX, I find most "modern" games way too difficult, and don't enjoy shooter/hack and slash type games. The games I've enjoyed most would describe as kiddie by some.

Now that I have a modded XBOX, I really like the golf games. I've recently started morrowind and I am totally lost...we may need to talk smoothmoniker.

Between the Atari 2600's release and last week, there are only a small number of US-released systems that I _don't_ have. (I'm missing the Fairchild Channel F, the Emerson Arcadia, the Atari Lynx, the Sega Nomad, the small line of APF systems, the RCA Studio II, the Neo-Geo, the Nintendo 64 and the Xbox. I have absolutely zero interest in the N64 and nearly zero in the Xbox.)

I have the Atari 2600, 5200, 7800, 400, XEGS and Jaguar, the Mattel Intellivision, Intellivision II and Aquarius, a pile of ColecoVisions, three Vectrexes, an Odyssey^2, a Bally Astrocade, the Sega Master System, Genesis, CDX, Saturn and Dreamcast, the Nintendo NES, SNES, GameCube and (through my wife) Game Boy line, a 3DO, PlayStation 1 and 2, a NEC TurboGrafx, TurboDuo and two TurboExpresses, a handful of NeoGeo Pocket Colors, and a Microvision.

Plus a pinball machine (Funhouse) and an Athlon 1300 filled with games and emulators.

I guess you could say that I'm at least an occasional gamer.

(blue, throw out the questions. I've spent more time on Morrowind than I care to admit to.)

I played Morrowind for months, and also Tribunal. I've got the werewolf expansion on my stack of "to-play" games. I love the Elder Scrolls games. I even slogged my way through the painful bug-ridden hell of Daggerfall because in my mind I was playing the game it should have been.

Started with Myst then moved on to Duke Nukem 3D then Quake then Half Life.

In all, I think I enjoyed Duke Nukem 3D the most.

Doom 3 is my next foray. Or if they ever finish the next Duke Nukem.

Mostly PC games. But last year I got a Gameboy Advance SP.

Favorite game of all time has to be Duke Nukem 3D. Love the wisecracks. Yes, I realize they're Bruce Campbell (Evil Dead etc.) rip-offs. But no worse off for wear.

Also enjoyed the various Quakes.

On the GBASP: Circle of the Moon and Legend of Zelda Link to the Past

I played through Myst in one day with a friend. Unfortunately, we didn't figure out the rotating tower until after we tried every safe combination from 001 to 6 something something to get the matches... Since then I cheat too much (hint guides on the web), but I still enjoy puzzle games. Just finished Uru. Gorgeous graphics.

Morrowind, Greyhawk: Temple of Elemental Evil, Freecell

Or if they ever finish the next Duke Nukem.

Heh, uh... yeah. I've got a friend who's working on that (a real friend, not a "code word for me" friend)... he doesn't tell me everything, but I personally wouldn't expect it this year.


Damn, that's a massive PC to console ratio, bigger than I was expecting. Is it just because you don't want to pay the extra cost of buying a console when you already have a PC, or that you don't want to take over the TV, or is it just you prefer the type of games you find on the PC versus a console?

And to be fair, I'll answer my own question: I own a Gamecube, PS2, two Playstations (one standard and one mod-chipped--for playing Japanese games, not for burns mind you), and I play them all when I have time, but my husband plays them more. He also plays PC games, but I haven't much at all in the last several years--except for the Sims. I attribute that to the complete disintegration of the adventure genre, nobody makes things like Space Quest anymore.

My favorite game of all time? A solid tie between VibRibbon (Japanese, Playstation) and Dance Dance Revolution. :)

All that and I don't like gamepads.

I love a good game, and could care less the platform.

Games I'm currently playing (not all at once):

PC: Star Wars Galaxies, Diablo II, Noah's Ark.
Xbox: SSX3, Morrowind
GBA: Metroid Fusion, Final Fantasy Tactics Advance
Gamecube: Animal Crossing, Legend of Zelda (The original, was on a Nintendo bonus disc)
PS2: Well, nothing really. This has kind of collected dust since I got the Xbox.

The Dreamcast still gets plenty of playtime, and if I ever get around to digging my SNES out of its box, I've had a hankering to re-play Earthbound and Final Fantasy III.

I MUD way the hell too much (dsl-mud.org:4000).

And I play ZAngband a little, too.

I used to play Counterstrike and so forth, but I don't have a monitor for my windows box. I've been sort of thinking of getting a monitor and looking into the newer games while what I've got is still half decent, but I'm cheap and lazy. And I'd rather buy a TV for the Daily Show, anyway.

OK, for you morrowind gurus, here's the deal. I have the game but no manual...do have a strategy guide, but not sure about the basics, moves & such.

Such as fighting, I make myself invisible, get right up straight on next to a guy, crosshairs dead center, right trigger....whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, I'll hit him like out of 20 times.....seems like I'm doing something wrong....I normally get my ass kicked.

Also in Seyda Neen, I can't get to the end of Nimawia Grotto...I swim under, think I'm in like the third chamber...I see what looks like a tunnel underwater but halfway in I can hardly see anymore, then of course I drown.

Just getting started, in fact I just started play in Balomor (sp?) today...this game is freaking huge.

What I'm fooling around with these days:

PC: WarCraft 3, Civ 3 expansion, UT2k4
GameCube: Pitfall, Viewtiful Joe, RE0

I don't have a PS2, nor do I intend to rectify the situation. I'd gladly receive an Xbox as a present or as part of a very cheaply-priced promotion deal. There are precisely five titles I'd purchase for Xbox if I had one - Halo, Halo 2, KOTOR, and the GTA 3/VC bundle - and until that changes significantly, it's not worth buying the system. Any other worthy titles, it's just a pretty safe lock I can pick them up on GameCube instead.

Compare UT2003 and 2004 to me please!

I was disappointed with 2003 because it felt too cartoonish. I'm not shooting a weapon, I'm shooting a pretend version of one that could never ever really exist. It also felt too twitchy-oriented and fast-pace oriented.

You're doing nothing wrong. As a beginner, you probably won't be able to kill any people. You need to practice with the type of weapon you are using. Go after the rats and worms, and maybe try some training if you can afford it. Also make sure that the weapon you're using is one that you have put some points in during character generation - preferably a major skill.You may not be athletic enough to hold your breath that long. There are charms and spells for "Water Breathing" and "Night Vision" available.(Balmora) Indeed. It's incredible. Just wait til you get to Vivec.

:eek: Holy mackerel!!! I remember getting the 2600 for Christmas eons ago. I was insanely jealous of two of my friends for owning ColecoVision and Intellivision II (and I found myself playing at their house quite often...:D).

I'm an old arcade head from the 80s. The mall arcade was my second home. All the typical games: Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Centipede, Gyrus (my all time fav!!), etc.

The only console game that I own (on PS2) is Marvel vs. Capcom. The arcade version is better (tag team option is not available for the console version). I don't play games on the PC.

Point one: The moment you perform any action, you're no longer invisible. I'm sure that the enemy whacking you around has convinced you of THAT. (Invisibility does have its uses in combat, though -- against many foes, you can turn it on for a breather, so that you can drink a healing potion, regain your fatigue, etc. and then return to the fray.)

Point two: The bottom bar is your fatigue. As you run around, swing weapons and otherwise exert yourself, it drops relatively quickly. Your hit rate drops DRAMATICALLY when you're tired.

Point three: New characters tend to have fairly low skill ratings across the board in weapon types. Pick the weapon type you're highest-rated in, wield a corresponding weapon, and go beat on Kwama Foragers and Rats and such for a while in the wilderness before you go after bigger targets. Once you're reasonably proficient with one weapon, you can slowly build up another.

Figure on specializing in one or two weapon types and ignoring the others. I usually go with Blunt Weapon and/or Long Blade, with a soft spot for Marksman once I can cast Bound Longbow semi-reliably.

For fun, try Hand-to-Hand. It's been neutered in later patches, but you can beat on a Kwama Forager for ages and build Speed up fairly quickly.

So wait until you've got a Water Breathing spell, or (better yet) a spell AND an item. Once you get your hands on a filled soul gem, it shouldn't cost much at all to have an Enchanter make you an item with (let's say) Water Breathing, 60 Seconds, Cast When Used...

Crabs, rats, kwama, hellhounds, and those birds I can't remember the name of. They put those all over so you can get a little practice.

Go after the rats and worms
 

Even they kick my sorry ass!

But I finally whacked Forin Gilnyth, had to go buy a bunch of light armor and a big ass axe.

Thanks for the advice, the last 3 posts actually helped a lot. I'm a Blade now, and didn't know about the water magic & athletics...will try that later.

I need to find some back water town so I can take out my frustration on the guards, getting real tired of hearing "Move Along".

HELL YES!!!!
One of the best games of all time. Late at night, lights off, wandering around the level, suddenly your hear the scream of one of those 'mother' thing, you around, shit yourself as it runs toward you and fire off a burst from the assault rifle in reflex... Most atmospheric game of all time.

Morrowind=greatest RPG
 

I love pretty much everything about this game. Granted, the game is not newbie friendly at all and it should never be the first RPG you play but it has great appeal once you understand it.

Morrowind is designed as an open ended games. Just like in a real-life adventure you don't neccessarily have all the clues and talking to people is your only chance.

The game also has a great deal of uncertainty. The huge world is filled with everything from easy enemies in caves when your far along in the game, to near immpossible enemies close to the begginning. A lot of people are annoyed by such unpredictability but I look at at like a true adventure. Add completely customizable character creation and you've got the great game that is Morrowind.

But a game doesn't have to be as advanced as Morrowind to be fun. I used to play a game on the Sega Genesis called Streets of Rage that is a good example of this. You went from one level to the next beating up everyone you saw. Made for great mindless entertainment.

PC.

I play about two games a year, with some starcraft stuffed in occasionally.

Most recently, Thief I and Thief II; Alice; Tribes I and II two years ago.

I need to play Alice again. Last time I played it, my system was barely sufficient. I should be able to pump up the power now.

The Thief games are awesome. There's a new one coming out, but it's not by the same team, so it'll be a crapshoot.

I've just got a new computer and have been playing quite a few games actually. I really like the Medal of Honor series. I'm just about done with Breakthrough and will likely get the Pacific Assault as well.

While these games are fun, I really miss the games from Sierra a lot. Kings Quest, Police Quest, Leisure Suit Larry, et al. I liked the controls and the fact that although you may know what to do, you have to figure out the exact phrase to type in to get em to do it. I remember being stumped on Police Quest for a week or better trying to arrest a drunk driver. Now it's all point and click and try to find the hidden treasures.

There was a certain joy to trying to figure out EXACTLY how to properly order the condom from the chinese guy at the convience store ...

I have a copy of the Zork games. I should play them again. I agree on the looking for the sweet spot type games ... not as much fun.

I recently had a lot of fun with the game "Sanitarium" ... got it for under $5, but had a lot of fun playing with it. Some of the puzzles got tedious, but other than that it was spooky and atmospheric. I'm also a sucker for a game set in a nuthouse ...

The moneky island and Indiana Jones series rocked hard.

Here is a band of programmers making remakes of classic Sierra games. KQ1 and 2 are done, and they are working on QFG2. Very good.

I never really had a whole lot of experience with 2k3. My friend just started getting me into UT when 2k4 came out, so we just ended up switching over to that.

In regards to the weaponry, pistol's been replaced by an assault rifle, but all the other weapons are the same. The deathmatches are super "You're quick or you're dead", but there are a ton of other different match styles, not all that follow along to that.

The big grief I have with 2k4 over 2k3 is that when a bot gets a wave gun and uses alt fire, that beam always stays with you. With another player, you can juke a few times and break the lock, but a bot's lock is like iron. It's sick.

We have a PS2, all the Nintendos and an XBox here (I just wired the broadband into the living room for XBox Live yesterday), but the kids do almost all of the console gaming. I like "realtime" stuff...racing, soccer, football, golf, flight sims, FPS. I *suck* at strategy games...suck beyond belief.

All that said, I probably don't spend two hours per week gaming.

First Person Shooters
 

I've been playing interactive first person shooters. My basic requirement is that they be free to play over the Internet. All of the games below are free to play over Internet. America's Army is completely free, although the 600+ MB download is only something you can do with broadband.

America's Army is the official game brought to us by the US Army. Very realistic, with a nice training component. They just did a major release change. I now qualified as a medic by taking short classes and exams in first aid, including how to treat shock and blood loss.

A nice component of the game is that you have to earn your way to be able to use certain skills.

Day of Defeat is a mod (modification) built on the Half-Life engine. It turns a science fiction game into a WWII reenactment. The skirmishes are German vs British or German vs American. Some games are capture the flag and some require demolition. The simplest ones are with both sides in simlar positions. The toughest ones are with the Germans in an entrenched position. Since fortifications are a force multiplier, this means that if the teams are even the Germans can have an effective 2 to 1 or 3 to 1 advantage. If it weren't for multiple lives, reenacting the Normandy invasion with even teams would quickly lead to an alternate reality in which the Germans win.

In my opinion the Germans have better equipment than the Americans who have better equipment than the British. Since I don't ever play the Germans, my solution to this is to take dropped weapons before they disappear.

Counterstrike is another Half-Life mod. I haven't been playing much of it lately. This is a terrorist vs counter-terrorist game. The weapons are realistic. The locations, from small villages to modern office buildings are also realistic. One note to this game is that there was an airport-airplane hostage rescue scenario that I have not seen post-9/11.

Starseige Tribes 1 is my personal favorite. This game is a futuristic infantry squad game that was designed to only be played online. I bought Tribes II when the original stopped working, since I thought the company had purposely dropped support for Tribes 1. I am happy to report that as of last night it is back again and I am playing it again for the first time in almost 2 years. The graphics on Tribes 1 are more cartoonish than Tribes II, but the gameplay and user support are much better developed.

The original Tribes 1 had 3 armor types and maybe two dozen items between weapons and supplies which could be used. User modifications, there are a dozen different mods, stretched it to about ten kinds of specialized armor and as many as 50 items, including tacital nuclear weapons. The armor was balanced so that heavier armor sacrificed speed and agility. In addition to the jet pack on all armor which can only fly in 10-20 seond bursts, there were three basic aircraft 'jeeps' which were expanded in the mod games and in Tribes II.

My favorite part of the game is that in addition to the capture the flag aspect, there are items which can be broken to destroy the intelligence or supply capability of teams. This would require players to suit up as an engineer and repair radar or solar panels. Unfortunately, this made them a targer for snipers. After this happended to me in a few games, I made it a point to carry a scoped rife, which the mod allowed me to do. If he didn't get me on the first shot, or after I came back, I would sneak around and wait until the sniper stuck his head up from behind a nearby ridge for another shot.

Of course the usual course of action for dealing with 'sappers' was to have a whole group of heavily armored individuals pop out and lay down mortars across the ridge top or by remotely controlling turrets.

If you don't mind graphics that look a little more like anime than modern computer-shaded animation, the gameplay on Tribes 1 is better and the specialization in the mods lets you suit up almost any way you like. Tribes 1 is now under $10 and the patch is available to bring it up to date.

DoD (Day of Defeat) rocks hard and promotes much better squad-play than CS ever did or will. CS doesn't enforce enough realism to make people work as teams, the nature of DoD lends itself to it excellently making IMHO for a better experience, particularly for clans.

If oneone is interested there is an emeulator for many Sierra classics (Indiana jones, Day of the tentacle etc) called SCUMMV (google is your friend), if anyone needs ROMS PM me and we'll see what we can do.

I still like Tribes better in that you can defeat the enemy by destroying his capability to supply himself and gather intelligence. Plus, the jetpacks are kool!:rattat:

In that case, you would probably like America's Army. What is nice is that there is a point system where the players carry their rating around from game to game.

Of course, the results are sent to the Army, so if you score really well you'll be the first person they draft in the next six years.

If your army recruits me I'm in some deep shit ;)
So are they.

Tribes is legendary. LAN games were particularly good for the server admin's ability to modify pretty much everything in the game in realtime, someone's carrying the flag, they get fragged and SHIT the flag starts bouncing around! Of course this could be hazerdous for the admin who could end up being assulted with cold pizza.

One of the great points of my high school career was when we set up the dedicated server on the campus LAN for Tribes games and just virtually ceased coding. (It was a Visual Basic class, it's not like we didn't have the time to spare.)

Tribes is the perennial classic, I just play UT because Tribes hasn't really made its way into my dorm yet. We'll roll with StarCraft and AoE II over here on the strategy side of things, don't know where anyone else stands.

drool.. drool
 

hardcore addict over here... PC, PS2, Ps1, supernintendo (gotta love them lemmings)and a really really old atari 2600... and still junking out on pinball whenever i get the chance... I play pretty much everything except sports games (but if I could find a copy of pitball for the Sega Genesis.. oh man oh man I wouldn't leave home for a week)

currently playing

American Mc'gees Alice
GTA3
Primal
Lemmings
Inetlligent Qube (payed 40$ for the damn thing on ebay!)
Dragons Lair for XP (childhood addiction)
Neverwinter Nights
Final Fantasy X (saving up for the new new one)
*sigh* if there were only two of me one could stay home and play while the other one worked..


on a side note in GTA3 on the chatterbox radio mode.. the whole thing about pogo the monkey and when the mother is talking about her sons dog getting run over and he's beggin her to hit the 'reset' button.. I think that may be a problem that actually occures, the dis-association of video games and reality in the children growing up today. no, I don't have any studies handy that would prove this, but an ex g/f of mines' son had displayed some thinking alng these lines and it took me a while to reason it out to him the difference... but then again he didn't get alot of outside human reaction.. I dunno just a thought

I've got American McGee's Alice on the stack. Last time I played it, it was a bit choppy. My new system has a bit more muscle.

I'm currently playing Arcanum. The "Fallout" interface on a fantasy game is interesting.

I'm thinking about a Gameboy Advance SP to replace the Gameboy Advance my daughter lost. (And before anybody asks, no, she's not touching this one.) Though I'm digging around for a good price just on principle... seems like they never go on sale. (I am surprised the Gameboy Advance prices haven't gone down any more than they have, with the introduction of the cooler SP model.)

My PS2 has been dormant lately (I've had Kingdom Hearts, Wizardry: TOTFL and Monster Rancher 4 on hold for months now), but the next few weeks should wear it out:

April 20: Siren. Jack into the heads of eerie white-eyed Japanese zombies that grin and cry while they rend you limb from limb. My wife will be all over this one.

April 27: Red Dead Revolver. Rockstar Games meets Once Upon A Time In The West.

May 4: La Pucelle: Tactics, the prequel to Disgaea. Do I have to say another word?

May 6: Samurai Warriors. The Dynasty Warriors engine transported to feudal Japan. Do I have to say another word?

I should surface some time in July, I think.

I used to be a huge PC gamer, but in recent years it's waned quite a bit. In my eyes, the golden days of gaming were Doom II, and Duke Nukem 3D. My good friend and I used to play Duke3D deathmatch over dialup into the wee hours, it was great. And we'd get together for big 8-player LAN games at the WordPerfect building whenever possible.

After playing Duke3D for a few months, I began to design new levels, and became pretty well known in the map building world for my Nukecity series. If you search for my name online, many of the matches will be Duke Nukem 3D download sites hosting my old maps. Later on, I was actually hired to build a level for an addon to 3D Realms' Shadow Warrior called "Twin Dragon," but the addon got canned before release (though it was completed). A shame... I was really pleased with how that map turned out.

Games I've thoroughly enjoyed over the years... StarCon 1 & 2, Wolf3D, the Doom series, Duke3D, Starcraft, UT, the old Rainbow Six series, Deus Ex, GTA3 & GTA-VC, Medal of Honor, Call of Duty, Splinter Cell...

...and most recently, Far Cry. Far Cry is a video card killer, but if your system can run it playably, that game is awesome in single-player. I've yet to try it multiplayer, but I'm guessing it'll be funner than a barrel of monkey spit. The graphics and sound are beautiful, the gameplay is fun, and the vehicles are great. There are lots of other new games I haven't even looked at yet.

I have System Shock 2 that I tried playing a long time ago, but I think at the time my computer couldn't run it too well, and I haven't tried it since. Maybe I'll have to install it and give it a whirl.

I'm not a big console person, myself. I like having the mouse, and high-res. But that's just me.

God, I fuckin' love my job.

I assume you're going then? I don't get to go because my company won't pay for anyone not directly making a presentation. Is yours paying your way or are you on your own?

I played Prince of Persia for a bit on Xbox last night ... may have to get this for PS2. (oh damn, before I get really hooked I should check to make sure it's out for PS2....

Yeah, last year the hotel was covered, but this year, I'm paying airfare, hotel, and on-the-ground expenses.

You crazy essay!
 

Ok so you might think im kind of a strange gamer after this...
I am personally addicted to my Sega Genesis/Nomad... yeah thats right i still got one that works... my Game Gear, which i still think says whats up to Gameboy... and my xbox... oh what a marvel of consol gaming.
I've never taken interest at all in the ps line or nintendo for some reason... except conkers bad fur day for n64... oh man what a game....

Morrowind is slammin.

Does anyone know of a similar game that's built for mac? I'm done with PC's and the only think I miss are the selection of games.

-sm

i'm a UT3 and half-life junkie! i still have to go rip, i mean buy, 2k4 and i have the entire Half-Life series. kinda dissapointed with the rest of the series of HL tho. too short.

Online, I'm on a Rogue Spear (an R6 sequel) kick at the moment...my 56k won't let me play anything better. I would be addicted to BF1942 online if I had cable.

Nobody but me liked Ghost Recon (another R6 title). I liked the big maps and the fact that you had to plan your way out of situations more than just blast your way through.

All the Doom/Halflife stuff was fun, but to this day, my favorite shooter was Outlaws :D It was this old-West themed game with cruddy graphics, but the gameplay for the 100 or so of us who played it online was fabulous. Lots of stupid but fun mods like zero-gravity and one where all the character skins were saguaro cactus. Nothing like spending a whole game dressed as a cactus, shooting at other cactus in a field of cactus.

Yeah.

I played the demo of that game. I've always regretted not getting the retail version. I keep hoping to find it in a bargain bin somewhere.

I used to play a few strat games ( civ mainly ) on the pc way back when...I also at various times owned a commodore vic20 ( I know aintthat cute?) and an amiga 500....

A few years ago a couple of friends started playing this dinky little online game called Ultima Online....graphics were out the arc but the depth of gameplay and level of community building took me quite by surprise....since i didnt know any better i went straight to the veteran shard (Siege Perilous) cause the rules sounded more fun than the other shards....Played for nigh on 4 years...was a member of several guilds...led a couple. Was a peaceful non fighting type then became a playerkiller....always with a roleplay backdrop. If you are going to fuck with someones gaming day by killing their avatar I always felt it was good manners to do it in a stylish way swhich was sympathetic to the gameworld. If its a fantasy game make your killer a fantasy character and make the death they take feel more like they got killed by a gamevillain rather than PKed by some jerk.....I was pretty good at fighting but I was also really really good at getting killed......Attacking a small crowd of enemies solo wasnt always the best thing to do....and dungeons are places I always die in no matter whatgame.....

The game eventually dropped off the interest scale for me as my life was taking up my attention....Sice then I have tried many games mainly as a beta tester but I have yet to find one that has anywhere near the depth of possible gameplay that the original UO had...Still I keep an eye out...I follow the development process of most of the current crop of in dev games. I find the concept of persistant state worlds as a playground utterly fascinating. ...But it has ruined me for other games. I dont play any single player games now.

I went looking for microwaves and couldn't find any to my liking, so instead I bought the equivalent dollar amount in video games.

Nearly.

I'm playing CSI: Dark Motives first. Slang and I had a lot of fun playing through the first CSI game, so I decided to try to recapture the moment.

I get frustrated with the point and click interface from time to time, but overall, it's fun, even if it doesn't involve any shooting.

Clive Barkers Undying (PC version)
 

I just picked this up new from the game store for the whopping price of $3.50.

Maybe it's the background music, or maybe it's the animation, but this game just gives me the creeps. It makes Resident Evil look like Pee Wee's Playhouse.

Nice gimmicks include a 'true seeing' spell which, when you invoke it, shows you the 'real' family portrait. The individual monsters are ok, but its the overall effect that gets creepy.

I'm playing it on 'Medium', and I've already watched my character die a few times.

One or two of the puzzles have me stumped. One thing I like about playing games is that there are plenty of walk-throughs out there if I give up.

I bought a PS2 in November...finally. Had a PSOne, but sold it to Dave. I also have a Genesis somewhere around here. Back in St. Louis, my brother has the 2600, Intellivision, NES and Sega's Master System II.

I'm normally a sports game fan: I have NHL, Madden and NBA Ballers. But I recently bought Def Jam Vendetta and got GTA3 from Jim back in the fall...good stuff.

I just picked up Def Jam as well for Cube, along with Rogue Squadron 3: Rebel Strike. Sexiful games, the both of them.

On the horizon, I saw the video for Def Jam: Fight for New York in LA, but I couldn't find an actual demo station anywhere. Looked pretty tight, though. And from what I've read of GTA: San Andreas, I'm really hoping Rockstar will port it over to Xbox like they did for GTA3/Vice City, if not release it outright. I've gone this far without wanting anything to do with Sony when it comes to video games, I'd hate to break an impressive record.